Ohio classes of 2019, 2020 get al­ter­na­tive paths to diploma

COLUMBUS >> Ohio law­mak­ers are giv­ing high school stu­dents more flex­i­bil­ity in how they can earn diplo­mas in 2019 and 2020.

The changes are sim­i­lar to those made for the class of 2018 af­ter ed­u­ca­tors warned that too many stu­dents were at risk of not meet­ing higher test score re­quire­ments to grad­u­ate.

The new al­ter­na­tives aren’t based on pass­ing aca­demic or work-re­lated tests.

The mea­sure passed by law­mak­ers Thurs­day re­quires state ed­u­ca­tion of­fi­cials to come up with a rec­om­men­da­tion by April about what grad­u­a­tion re­quire­ments should be for fu­ture classes.

The bill now heads to Repub­li­can Gov. John Ka­sich for his ap­proval.

Crit­ics say the point of raising re­quire­ments was to en­sure grad­u­ates are pre­pared for jobs or col­lege, and that mak­ing things eas­ier is a dis­ser­vice to stu­dents.